Los Kjarkas

Los Kjarkas is a Bolivian band from Capinota (a Province in the department of Cochabamba), one of the most popular Andean pop bands in the country's recent history. An unauthorised translation of their song Llorando se fue by French producers Jean Karakos and Olivier Lorsac resulted in Kaoma's hit, Lambada. Jennifer Lopez 's single On The Floor samples Los Kjarkas's single Llorando se fue. After a successful lawsuit, Kaoma paid up and licensed the song. Kjarkas have also founded two schools teaching Andean folk music; the Musical School of Kjarkas (Lima, Peru) and La Fundación Kjarkas (Ecuador). They have toured across Japan, Europe and Scandinavia, the United States and South America, they currently have over 350 songs composed by them.

The band's leader has always been singer, guitarist and songwriter Gonzalo Hermosa González, who formed the band with his brothers Elmer Hermosa González and Ulises Hermosa González, as well as Gastón Guardia Bilboa and Ramiro de la Zerda. De la Zerda left group to form Grupo Fortaleza and Ulises Hermosa died of cancer in 1992, replaced by Eduardo Yáñez Loayza, Rolando Malpartida Porcel and José Luis Morales Rodríguez. By 2002, however, Japanese born Makoto Shishido, Lin Angulo, & Gonzalo Hermosa González junior had replaced Yáñez, Porcel, & Rodríguez. Makoto joined the band after seeing them play in Japan. Los kjarkas have performed in many different countries and in almost all of the continents; this makes them the most successful folk band from Bolivia.

In the later 2000s, however, Elmer Hermosa was diagnosed with diabetes [1].

In 2010, Edwin Castellanos became mayor of the city of Cochabamba. [2]

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